EU: EU Council postpones economic sanctions to Russia by six months. “Minsk agreements not enforced”

(Brussels) Today, the EU Council postponed its economic sanctions “against some of Russia’s specific businesses to January 31^st 2018”. As explained in a notice, the decision was due to “president Macron and Chancellor Merkel’s update of the enforcement of the Minsk agreements, which paved the way to the postponement of the sanctions for a further six-month period, at the European Council of 22^nd and 23^rd June 2017”. Today, the EU Council formalised such decision “through a written procedure and, in keeping with the rules for all such decisions, unanimously”. First enforced for one year on July 31^st 2014 in response to Russia’s operations “aiming to disrupt the situation in Ukraine”, such measures were then strengthened in September 2014. They concern finance, energy, defence and dual-use goods. On March 19^th 2015, the European Council had agreed to make the length of such sanctions conditional on the full enforcement of the Minsk agreements, which should have happened by December 31^st 2015. “As this did not happen and the agreements have not been fully enforced yet, the European Council postponed the sanctions”.